single tax loophole for the wealthiest americans. not one. that's not balanced. that would be like democrats saying we have to close our deficits without any spending cuts whatsoever. it's all taxes. that's not the position democrats have taken. that is certainly not the position i've taken. it's wrong to ask the middle class to bear the full burden of deficit reduction and that's why i on will not sign a plan that harms the middle class. so now republicans in congress face a simple choice. are they willing to compromise, to protect vital veminvestments education and national security and all of the jobs that depend on them or would they rather put hundreds of thousands of jobs and our entire economy at risk just to protect a few special interest tax loopholes that benefit only the wealthiest americans and biggest corporations? that is the choice.

are you willing to see a bunch of first responders lose their job because you want to protect some special interest tax loophole? are you willing to have teachers laid off? or kids not have access to head-start? or deeper cuts in student loan programs? just because you want to protect a special tax interest loophole that the vast majority of americans don't benefit from. that's the choice. that's the question. and this is not an abstraction. there are people whose livelyhoods are at stake. they are communities that are going to be impacted in a negative way and i know that sometimes all of this squabbling in washington seems very abstract and in the abstract, people like the idea, you know, there must be some spending we can cut. there may be some waste out there. there absolutely is. but this isn't the right way to do it. so my door is open.

i've put tough cuts and reforms on the table. i'm willing to work with anybody to get this job done. none of us will get 100% of what we want. but nobody should want these cuts to go through, because the last thing our families can afford right now is pain imposed unnecessarily by partisan recklessness and ideological rigidity here in washington. the american people have worked too hard rebuilding to see their elected officials to cause yet another one. it seems like every three months around here some manufactured crisis. we have more work to do than to just try to dig ourselves out of these self-inflicted wounds. while a plan to reduce our deficit has to be part of our agenda, we also have to remember deficit reduction alone is not an economic plan.

we learned in the 1990s whether bill clinton was president, nothing shrinks the deficit faster than a growing economy that creates good, middle class jobs. that should be our driving focus. making american a magnet for good jobs. equipping our people with the skills required to fill those jobs and making sure their hard work leads to a decent living. those are the things we should be pushing ourselves to think about and work on every single day. that is what the american people expect. that's what i'm going to work on every single day to help deliver. so i need everybody who is watching today to understand we got a few days, congress can do the right thing. we can avert just one more washington manufactured problem that slows our recovery, and bring down our deficits in a balanced, responsible way. that's my goal.

that's what would do right by these first responders. that's what would do right by america's middle class and what i'm going to be working on and fighting for, not just over the next few weeks, but over the next few years. thanks very much, everybody. thank you, guys, for your service. >> you're listening to the president deliver remarks there from the south court auditorium this morning about the sequester that is coming on march 1st. ten days away from now. the president calling on all americans to be aware of what is going on, knowing the tough cuts that are coming because if congress doesn't act to avert this peja stojakovoison pill dr congress a tough one to swallow for all of us. chris, watching this, it's interesting the backdrop here surrounded by first responders. our first read-out today says we have seen the future of the sequester fight the next gefew weeks and it is the president using his pulpit to drop a

political hammer on congress. we talk about the backdrop there this, chris, the bully pulpit itself. has any other president used it much to his advantage than president obama? >> i think it's true he is doing it and with all of the uniforms behind him he is making the point. the big point was about his third paragraph when he said we are not able to send an aircraft carrier into the persian gulf. imagine that situation if we face a crisis over there and the sequester and the failure and continuing resolution to be continued or any of the gamesmanship on capitol hill. they weren't able to defend our country over there. i think he really laid it down to these guys. this is an advantage he has. as you said, the bully pulpit, it's an old term by teddy roosevelt and means the president can get out there and make a point. it's a great pulpit. the republicans don't have such a pulpit. they can put up someone like boehner or someone like rubio

and it's never an even match because the public will not pay that kind of attention and is no one else to speak like this. obama knows he has an advantage. he can speak for the administration. there is no one in congress that can explain why we're facing this as the president called it, manufactured crises, every couple of months. >> and i just want to play it for everybody. one part that resonated was the fact the president bringing up what the gop choices are. take a listen, chris. >> republicans in congress face a simple choice. are they willing to compromise, to protect vital investments in education and health care and national security, and all of the jobs that depend on them, or would they rather put hundreds of thousands of jobs and our entire economy at risk just to protect a few special interest tax loopholes that benefit only the wealthiest americans and biggest corporations? that is the choice. >> chris, another part of the speech said these cuts are not smart, are not fair and hurt our economy. however, this was approved and

drafted by our congress. they knew this was coming. they know that the poison pill needs to be swallowed come march 1st. explain where the leverage is coming from the next ten days to get something done where the president feels that compromise exists. >> your intimation is congress is a joke. this kicking the can down the road every couple of months instead of dealing with a compromise and putting together gost they kick it down the road here. we have reached the end of the road on march 1st. march 27th when the continuing resolution terminates. it just keeps going like this. they can't negotiate! i don't know whose fault it it is. i think there is a problem on one side and i'm not being pa y partisan on this point. the president said come see me, my door is open. made it clear just now. who comes through that door? poor john boehner. he always looks the same way. sad and almost miserable in the role he has to play.

he comes into the white house and can't speak for the congress because he then has to go back and deal with whatever staff he still has working for him and they have to deal with cantor and whatever came game is playing because he is checking the wind and find out who in the tea party is speaking for the tea party that day and are they willing to budge at all? the answer is always no. it's almost like the middle east and the israel yis and looking r a peace partner and there isn't one. you have this situation. there is no person, man or woman, right or far right that can walk through that door and say i speak for the republicans, let's deal. that is the problem. the lack of a negotiating partner from the hill. boehner does not speak for the hard right of his party but the hard right of his party controls his party now. and that is a real dynamic problem here and not a partisan analysis. i think when historians look back on this period they will say the democrats were unusually

united behind the president. no black caucus going their own way. it is very united. we grew up with the phrase democrats in disarray and doesn't apply any more and now the republicans in disarray and makes it hard to cut a deal. i think the president is staking this out today. here it is tuesday. he has about ten days. what he wants to do is start the drum and you set it up very well, tom. it's clearly trying to set up a high noon situation where the bad guys will be the republicans. it's not that they are arriving on the train. there will be no train. all of this will come to a halt. he wants to establish this up front they are letting this happen and he wants to avoid it. >> we talk about the fact the president put out there my door is always open. you bring up who on the gop would have the guts enough to walk through it. politico is pointing out there are five republican senators who are waiting for the president to reach out. and so this back and forth of pointing fingers of you're not reaching out first or you're not reaching out, is this mainly all about 2014 and the mid terms?

>> of course, it always is. you keep hearing this especially from the republicans. i heard it on "meet the press" from a republican consultant this summer. they had this very grand notion of the strategic reach of obama that he is aiming towards a 2014 victory where he takes back the house, holds the senate and establishes a transformational presidency going into the end of his term, wherein, he does begin to pass immigration bills and perhaps gun control. they see it at a grand strategy and part of the buildup to that and it's all possible. i can't read the president's mind but credible what you have suggested and what they have suggested. >> "hardball's" chris matthews. catch him every night at 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. eastern organ nly msnbc. charlie rangel, great to have you here with me. you were there for the president's remarks. your reaction to him saying my door is always open.

do you think anybody is going to walk through that from the right? >> not unless we hear more from the people. i think the whole thing that we are missing in this discussion is that the president now is going to the american people. it's abundantly clear that for some republicans, just putting obama's name on it means a no. even things that they have adopted traditionally they are rejecting for political reasons. it seems to me the silence we hear from our structure and our agencies and from our churches, not just to beat up on republicans, but to tell their congress person, get something done or we will remember this. and to call them out by name, democrats and republicans. this is too serious to allow a handful of people with petty differences to destroy our nation's economy. >> well, he surrounded himself by first responds so the optics of this reminding the american people of who is going to be in

trouble hurt by this every day, americans by the sequester. the president using the leverage of almost guilt to try to convince people to listen up. >> are you willing to see a bunch of first responders lose their job because you want to protect some special interest tax loophole? are you willing to have teachers laid off? or kids not have access to head-start? >> so, again, painting the picture of what it means ten days from now if the sequester, the first round kicks in, a sfamt from john boehner from his office. we agree the sequester is a bad way to cut spending and why we passed a plan to replace it with reforms that don't threaten our economy and a solution controls by the president's party to finally pass a plan of their own. that came from brendan buck who is the speaker's spokesperson. sir, when you hear that, that they are putting the onus on the senate, putting the onus back on the president, this means that

they are looking for cuts, not just revenue, but the cuts that the president mentioned he is willing to put on the table. so is the republican party going to be expected that revenue is part of this or nothing? that they have to be willing to raise taxes? >> well, the congress is going to do exactly what the american people tell them to do. all this reid, boehner, back and forth is not accomplishing our goal. the united states is embarrassed by this whole thing and we don't hear from our multinational corporations that they are going to suffer economically. we don't hear from the agencies where the agent and the kids are going to suffer. in other words, the united states of america is leaving this up to a handful of politicians, republicans and democrats, when the urgency requires people to get on that telephone and not to come up with an answer, but tell them, don't come back home until you

resolve this issue. this nightmare was created by the congress with the understanding that it will never happen. >> mainly because a lot of people probably expected there would be a president romney and things would be different now than president obama when the sequester cuts hit. all of us that have a checkbook know we have to be able to take in enough money that goes out. so we can't balance our books at home if we are not throwing in enough money that we are spending. do democrats need to realize that spending is a problem and that we need to look at that to figure out where we can balance the books so that we are not so upside down? >> that is not the issue. there is no question that the president's proposal has over $800 billion cut in spending. we already cut $1.2 trillion. the one issue that they keep raising is one thing -- we don't want to increase taxes on the rich. we don't want to increase and close the loopholes on the corporations. they have traveled down this road before. it's abundantly clear the

difference between the republican leadership and the president and the democrats and that is there are tax loopholes that are unfair that serve no useful purpose that raise money. and so it's not just increase in taxes. it's perfecting a tax system that should be changed. it should be reformed. how could they say under no circumstances will we raise revenue, even if it's the right thing to do? and so what they are saying is, once again, before it was protect the top 1% and don't increase their tax rates. now they are saying anything else is wrong with the tax system, don't correct it if it means raising revenue. that doesn't make any sense. and what i'm saying is that it's too important to leave to 535 people. i say that the chambers of commerce, the councils and religious leaders, this is their country and they have given it

to the congress to act in an orderly manner and the congress has failed and we can't run around blaming reid and boehner. what we have to do is blame the members of congress and blame them by name and not necessarily party. i think it's abundantly clear where the snag is. everyone knows it. but i don't want to make it look like partisan. the question is can we avoid this if people get together if there is a mandate by the american people telling the congress people, don't come home until you resolve this. america deserves better. our fighting men and women, to have them overseas putting their life on the line for this great country and listening to these squabbles and these petty fights that they are having, that is un-american in every sense of the world. >> ten days to go until march 1st. congressman charlie rangel, thanks for your time. appreciate it. coming up, obama puppet master. the panel weighs in on the

president's sometimes rocky relationship with the press. he is a master manipulator and will future presidents take a page from his press playbook? a tearful oscar pistorious said he shot his girlfriend by mistake. how it all happened and more shocking about that day revealed in court. the president's bully pulpit is this the most effective strategy of getting his message through congress? tweet me today. hey, our salads. [ bop ] [ bop ] [ bop ] you can do that all you want, i don't like v8 juice. [ male announcer ] how about v8 v-fusion. a full serving of vegetables, a full serving of fruit. but what you taste is the fruit. so even you... could've had a v8. but what you taste is the fruit.

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they are not fair. they will hurt our economy. they will add hundreds of thousands of americans to the unemployment rolls. this is not an abstraction. people will lose their jobs. the unemployment rate might tick up again. >> that was president obama

speaking moments ago, putting the pressure on congress to avert the sequester. budget cuts which are set to take effect in just a matter of days, coming up on march the 1st. the first round. senate minority leader mitch mcconnoll saying president obama still prefers campaign events to common sense bipartisan action. the president made those short remarks moments ago and once again using the bully pulpit to call for action surrounding himself by first responders and his remarks on the same day of a political report, "obama, the puppet master." it's great to have all three of you here with me this morning. quoting from this politico article. the balance of power used used to be much more in the favor of the mainstream press.

saying nowadays he said the white house gets away with stuff i would never have dreamed of doing. all this is on the heels of the fact that the press was iced out of getting pictures of the president golfing with tiger woods. is the punishment fitting the crime here so to speak, of the fact that this ire is drawn to the president being called a puppet master because we don't have shots of him playing with tiger? >> it iss odd. i have been out covering the president. you don't get access of the president when he is golfing on vacation. here it was different because he was with tiger woods and a "golf" magazine there getting some insight. maybe tiger woods invited him there. who knows. i do think this is an article, the one that poe little ko wrote. i think an article written four years ago or could have been written about the romney campaign or about ronald reagan.

it is different now. there are so many outlets the president can go to and he uses those outlets very effectively. they see the view as a bigger bully pulpit as giving an interview for a white house reporter and i think in that way they have been effective. sure reporters are frustrated and we should. i've certainly reported -- certainly frustrated with the access. was frustrated with the access when i covered obama in the beginning of this term and when he ran for election in 2008 so i think you'll continue to hear these complaints. ultimately, i think, i'm not really sure, if the president is necessarily going to respond to them. you saw him give that speech today. he didn't take any questions and we were wondering going into it if he would. he certainly didn't. >> he showed up on time, though. that is kind of a good thing when you're playing by the rules of time keeping. doug, let me ask you quickly, though. is this just the white house press pool reacting to the fact that "golf" digest correspondent was the first person to tweet about it and the fact this is a reaction to the fact maybe there

is a limited scope and that the media has been seduced by what we think is content but actually we are not getting it. >> well, you know, the media and the administration, they have competing interests, right? the media wants as much access as possible and want to know the in's and out's on how decisions are made and pay a lot of money to travel with the president. i kind of get some of the gripes. as nea said these go back years and years and years and predate this president. every administration is trying to control access and control the image of the president. i think this presidency and this administration has done a very good job of taking advantage of new tools like youtube, twitter. i mean, on election day, thomas, four years ago, 1.8 million tweets. this year, over 33 million. so there's a lot of different ways now administrations can get their message out and i think this administration is taking advantage of that and they should, quite frankly. >> one thing we have seen the picture of the president and the first lady, the caption four more years. that picture was the most

tweeted ever and the hug right there. chip, let me ask you, as we look at the other big headline today, politico. gop senators waiting for president obama's outreach would they be most likely to get a tweet from barack obama and would that be more helpful in negotiating problems with our sequester? >> as long as it was signed b.o. and means it's done by him and done that way. you have to look out for that look. i think what is fascinated about this white house they use the different portals to get information from the people to a new and different way. dealing with congress is very much an old school way. it's personal contact between the president and the senators and the house members of which president obama has shown he doesn't really like to do that. he has had to build those personal relationships and when you go back to the last couple of presidents, you can name a few people on the other side that had great relationships. president bush had a great relationship with senator kennedy even though though disagreed on 85% and found the 20% they did and push things. we know about ronald reagan and

tip o'neill. these personal relationships that matter. >> take a listen to this, though, chip. this was this morning on "morning joe" talking about that. bridging and building personal relationships. >> i think the president could do a lot of good by walking over to capitol hill and saying, okay, let's go. >> but he doesn't do that. i can't figure out why he can't pick up the phone. >> we have gravity and that will not change. the president will not suddenly become bill clinton. >> chip, just at the top of the hour the president said in the sequester remarks my door is open. so if he is saying the door is open, why aren't other people on the right feeling that they are invited, open door policy to come in and build that relationship? why are they waiting for the president to do it? >> he is the president of the united states and must lead. he needs to go see them and build those personal relationships. >> do you agree with that? can the president, with the way this has been billed, at least now that maybe the fever of campaign is broken, to get in the whois for a second administration, can the

president build the relationships everybody is craving for him to build? >> i don't think it's his style. i think you can look at democrats who have similar frustration. they see a president that is not the back-slapping president like in terms of lbj but a different environment now i think the president a has used biden in the way and perhaps see that down the line. >> at the movie white house when they were going to watch lincoln not one gopper showed up. if they can't get together for social reasons how can we expect them to get together for business reasons? >> the white house has a lot of events where the republicans are invited. you read mcconnell no's reactioo the speech. his whole objective is defeat president obama and that was his priority. republicans politically for many of them being seen with the president doesn't help them and they know that.

so, you know, i think the criticisms of leadership, you have to be -- you have to want to be led. and i don't think the republicans generally want to be led. they don't want to be led by john boehner. they don't want to be led by the president. and so it makes things difficult. he can do all of the different outreach they want, but at the end of the day, they need to be doing the right thing and if they are sensitive about not getting invited to a golf match or coffee or tea, they have to get over it. >> i want to say thanks to all of you. i appreciate your time. i want to pass along to everybody we are waiting for jay carney to give the white house press briefing and we will bring that to you coming up here on msnbc. >> absolutely failed in my personal life and my he father. >> former governor mark sanford admitting two mistakes in his personal life but defending his political career. the three-point known as blade runner admitting to shooting his girlfriend on valentine's day. his side of the story from a packed courtroom today. first, we take a look at our producer pick for you today in

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be more wounded. we will work details on that story and bring them out to you. emotional statements out of a south african sort morning as they argue about whether to grant bail to os ka pistorious, the so-called blade runner seen here arriving for today's proceedings in police custody with his head covered and charged with premeditated murder in the death of his model girlfriend reevarks steenkamp. he said he shot his girlfriend by mistake. all this unfolding as steenkamp is laid to rest nearby in port elizabeth by her family. today we heard oscar speak for himself, michelle? >> reporter: well, he did but through a statement read by his attorney. this is where he just reached

the extreme of emotion. inconsolable and breaking down repeatedly and sobbing into his hands. so his side of the story is this. he says that early valentine's day morning, he woke up in the middle of the night to get a fan from his balcony. while he was coming back in, he says he heard a noise. realized someone was in his bathroom. he thought his girlfriend was in the bed and he described it as a wave of terror rushing over him. he said he didn't have his prosthetic legs on and felt extremely vulnerable having gotten death threats in the pass. he grabbed a gun that he keeps under his bed and screaming at whoever was in his bathroom to leave his house. he said he fired three shots through the bathroom door. later realizing that his girlfriend was not in the bed. he said he broke through the door, then tried to save her, tried to take her to the hospital himself. called paramedics, he claims, called a friend, but he said she died in his arms. prosecutors made it really clear they don't buy this. they said, first of all, why

would a burglar lock themselves in a bathroom? they said this would be a premeditated murder of a defenseless burglar locked in a bathroom. >> michelle, thanks so much. i want to update everybody on developing news we are getting from the supreme court. it i should a decision saying a warrant allowing police to search a house doesn't give them authority to detain someone who isn't at home at the time of that search. the justices gave unanimous support to police department ruling florida set the bar too high for allowing dogs picking up the scent of drugs for conducti ining a search of the grounds. [ female announcer ] nature valley protein bars, with simple, real ingredients, like roasted peanuts, creamy peanut butter,

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the obama administration is keeping the heat on the gun control issue. this afternoon, vice president biden will answer questions live in a facebook town hall about gun violence. meanwhile, more movement on the gun control issue outside of washington. colorado state house of representatives proofing four bills tightening gun laws yesterday. "the new york times" reporting today that lawmakers are increasingingly open to a ban on high capacity magazines. joining me is party a democrat from pennsylvania. you wrote a post for msnbc.com around the two-month mark around the newtown incident. you wrote the following. so as a strong advocate of the assault weapons ban, would you be happy if this congress was able to do something initially with universal background checks

and also on high capacity magazines? >> thomas, i wouldn't be the perfect enemy to be good, but we need to do these approaches and we absolutely positively need to have universal background checks. cops like my father on the streets say this is the number one thing that we need. secondly as you mentioned we need an assault weapons ban. no reason why we need those weapons on the streets of america. in the past two months alone, on valentine's day, just a few days ago, almost 2,000 americans were killed on our streets and congress, right now, is in recess. we need to act and start acting now. lastly, thomas, we need to limit the high capacity magazines. as gabrielle giffords, who i served in congress a few years ago. the high capacity magazines which happened why aurora, colorado, and hurt her in

arizona and was effective in slaughtering 20 kids in newtown, connecticut while they were sitting in their classroom seats, we need these three approaches right now. now if we get one and get another, we have to be relentless, thomas, and make the changes. >> do you think in looking at just colorado and what they were able to do there, and i want to show everybody they limit gun magazines to 15 rounds and requiring background checks for all sales. banning concealed weapons on college campuses and imposing a buyer to cover a background check cost. do you think this could be used as an example that could rocker at a federal level to be used to help craft the legislation needed? >> absolutely, thomas. you're seeing it. in places like colorado which is a swing state. a lot of republicans that live in that state and even in states like new york where governor cuomo has been aggressive on that, you know, the states, you know, the whole point of democracy is to have this proving ground and what is working in certain states and potentially take that to the federal level. some states are absolutely leaning on this issue like colorado, like new york.

now we need the federal government to get in gear and specifically congress to get in gear and come off recess and start having action here. because, again, just since newtown, connecticut, 2,000 americans have been killed. >> again, we point out that the vice president is going to be holding that facebook town hall about gun violence, using social media to talk about this today. thank you. >> president obama urging congress last hour to avoid the automatic budget cuts that are scheduled to take effect next friday. how those cuts will impact you. we dig into that next with ezra klein. so if you're one of theme who gets heartburn and then treats day after day... block the acid with prilosec otc and don't get heartburn in the first place! [ male announcer ] one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn. all your important legal matters in just minutes.

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a recent study of 66,000 women showed that diet soda drinkers had a higher risk for developing type ii diabetes when compared to regular soda drinks. however, scientists stress that the diet drinks don't cause diabetes and that other factors may be at play. this was all designed to say we can't do these bad cuts. let's do something smart. that was the whole point of this so-called sequestration. unfortunately, congress didn't compromise. they haven't come together and done their jobs and so, as a consequence, we have got these automatic brutal spending cuts that are poised to happen next friday. >> president obama, moments ago, flanked by real people. first responders and others urging congress to stop to force the cuts known as the sequester. let's get the dig on how the cuts would impact americans and our economy if they go into effect next friday, march 1st. joining me to look at the potential impact the gaming of

this "the washington post" columnist and msnbc columnist ezra klein. we showed the president earlier this hour and flanked by first responders. quite an optic at the white house. how is the sequester going to effect everyday americans? the point the president was trying to make here about the cuts? >> let's back up and say what it is. it's about a trillion dollars of spending cuts over ten years. the spending cuts done in a very dumb way. they are spread automatically in the exact same proportion across most categories of spending and couple of things protect. social security is protected and medicare and military and first responds is not protected. every one of those propose oals gets a cut in the same way. if you listen to president obama and the republicans they talk about deals would cut about as much what the sequester would all the time.

the difference between those deals and the sequester is the sequester there is no discretion. we can't say first responders are valuable thing and we cut them and go deep into farm subsidies. we have to do everything same across the board. so you get very stupid cuts in very important parts of federal spending like first responders. >> when we talk about entitlement issues here with medicare and medicaid and social security they are protected with the sequester cuts. you wrote the taxes paid and the benefits received for medicare and social security are uneven. does this beg the question how can they come up with entitlement reform? >> i think it begs the question how can they come up with something smarter? the broader point the president makes his point and a lot of economists do as well. you don't want to keep cutting until all of the things are not entitlements and not taxes to balance a budget that is is not where we are having our problems. we do need to get health care

costs primarily under control. a start on that in obama care. we need to go further and further in medicare and do further in medicare. at the same time, with an aging population and rising health care costs we need to bring taxes above where they are now and bring them relatively far where they are now. simpson-bowles had 2.5 trillion in tax increases and new one today a total $1.2 trillion. washington has moved so far to the right on tax and not worth trying any more is their point. it is worth saying if we don't want to make dumb cuts to the government go higher on taxes and into entitlements and not should be doing more damage to the everything else part of the budget. the education and first responders and all of that. we have cut enough there. no more. >> you bring your simpson and bowles. they released more of the detail today about the deficit reduction plan they have. here is what they had to say on "the daily rundown" this morning

about that plan. take a look. >> they can scoff all they want but either get your country on course and forget the fact you're a democrat or a republican and get to be an american and get cracking! >> the truth is both camps have got to get out of their comfort zone and make the tough decisions. they have made the easy once and now need to make the tougher ones. >> they say quit being american first above being party first. what does your gut tell you where this is? >> i can't stand simpson tendency to suggest that everybody who disagrees with him just isn't being an american or hasn't -- is ridiculous. the old plan was about one to one tax increases and spending cuts and the new one is 3-1 increase in tax and spending cuts. we don't have the policy details. it's only an outline and not a plan and hard to evaluate. the idea that people can't disagree while being an american

is ridiculous. they have changed their own plan dramatically. >> "the washington post" columnist and msnbc contributor, ezra klein, thank you. >> thank you. mark sanford admitting to making mistakes in his personal life but not his political life. his chances of being elected to congress. that is coming up.

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all right. so we all make mistakes. well, that's what former south carolina governor mark sanford says about the sex scandal that derailed his political career, but he is making a comeback, and he is now one of 16 people vying for the nomination to fill congressman tim scott's seat. he has released a new ad, and then went on the "today" show to explain himself. take a look. >> more recently i have experienced how none of us go through life without mistakes. in their wake we can learn a lot about grace, a god of second chances, and be the better for it. >> the reality of our lives is

if we live long enough, we're going to fail at something, and i absolutely failed in my personal life and my marriage, but one place i didn't ever fail was with the taxpayer. >> it's true. we all make mistakes. joining me now is alex eisen. it's great to have you with me. as we look at the political resume, two-term south carolina governor, three-term congressman, considered at one point to be a possible candidate for the white house, so on paper he looks great, right? can this get him back on track with his political career? >> it absolutely could, and he is going beyond just running tv ads. he is also sending out letters to former constituents saying, look, i made a mistake. if you have any questions, give me a phone call or send me an e-mail. he is including his personal cell phone number and personal e-mail in these letters he is sending. >> savannah guthrie asked him about how his family feels about the infidelity and dredging up the past. take a look. >> there's definite pain. it's in the clips that you were just showing. you know, i sat down with the boys. we had a conversation. i said what do you want me to

do? if you don't want me to do it, i'm out. their point was, no, dad, you have long cared about this stuff. you ought to do it. >> can he regain the trust, alex, of those that would be likely voters for him? >> well, that's certainly what sanford's campaign is betting. they're saying that, look, this -- with his argentine lover of his, happened about four years ago, and voters are ready to move on, and they're willing to accept him and send him back to congress. >> if sanford wins, he goes up against elizabeth colbert bush in the primary? >> elizabeth colbert bush who, of course, is the sister of steven colbert. it would be a race that would be made for a comedians like steven colbert really, and really a remarkable race between two pretty well known figures. >> it's going to be pretty wild to watch. alex jizen. great to see you. >> you can catch elizabeth colbert bush on "the daily rundown" on the 28th. she's going to be on the last word also later this week. that's it for me today. thank you for your time. i'm going to see you back here tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. eastern. "now with alex wagner" is coming

up next. >> hey, thomas. it is officially sequester semester. president obama brings out real people who will affect the affects of billions of cuts that are set to take place next week, while others are out at recess. the daupting to do list with harold ford jr., ryan grim, heather mcgehee, and andrew ross sorkin, and elizabeth warren is the tip on youtube with her top of too big to jail. will wall street reform become reality? and actress kristen davis is here to discuss blood ivory and elephants on the brink of extinction. all that when "now" starts in a mere 180 seconds. at ] [ dog ] we found it together. on a walk, walk, walk. love to walk. yeah, we found that wonderful thing. and you smiled. and threw it. and i decided i would never, ever leave it anywhere. because that wonderful, bouncy, roll-around thing... had made you play. and that...

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